CD Projekt, the Polish game publisher, was recently served with a class-action suit, with the plaintiffs alleging that the company deceived the public about the unfinished state of its Cyberpunk 2077 game before release to protect the stock price of the company, NY Post reports.
Rosen Law Firm, the New York-based attorneys, filed the suit on Christmas Eve in the US District Court in Central California on behalf of purchasers of the securities of CD Projekt, decrying the move by the Warsaw-based company.
In a widely publicized game that saw Hollywood star Keanu Reeves clinching a lead role, Cyberpunk 2077 has been hugely criticized by gamers and reviewers all over the world over the numerous glitches and crashes witnessed during gameplay, especially on PlayStation 4 and Xbox consoles.
Lawyers for Rosen said the company deceived investors and its customers by failing to inform them that the game would not be ready and fully developed for enhanced gameplay until at least February of next year.
The glitches encountered by gamers were so terrible that Sony pulled out the game from its stores and offered refunds to customers. Microsoft – makers of Xbox, was forced to take a similar step, IGN writes.
The lawsuit asserted that investors would have passed on the opportunity to purchase shares of the company at the very high prices that they did, or not at all if they were aware of the many glitches that came with the game. The lawsuit claimed that the actions of CD Projekt would affect the reputation of the company, leading to a plunge in revenue, which would, in turn, affect investors.
CD Projekt had earlier this month come out to issue a statement, apologizing for its lack of transparency that prevented a lot of customers from making informed decisions based on facts. However, since the disastrous outing of the game had become public knowledge, CD Projekt’s shares have since slumped down by a whopping 40 percent.
While analysts had predicted the sales of about 16 million copies of the game following an outrageous demand for the game weeks before its release; this week, the company came out to confirm that it actually sold about 13 million copies of the game between December 10 and December 20. This amount of copies sold meant that the company had recouped the entire development and marketing costs it incurred via pre-orders alone.
Source: nypost.com